Valentin Heller

Contact

• workRoom B70 The Coates Building
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 74 86049
• Valentin.Heller@nottingham.ac.uk
• www.drvalentinheller.com

Biography

Dr Valentin Heller is currently an Assistant Professor in Hydraulics in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Nottingham and a member of the Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Geoprocesses research group. Before moving to the University of Nottingham in 2014, he held one of the prestigious Imperial College London Research Fellowships working on various experimental and numerical research projects (2011-2014). He worked further as a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton (2008-2011) conducting research into wave energy conversion funded by EPSRC and the EC. His first postdoctoral research took place at ETH Zurich in 2008. ETH Zurich was also the place where he received his PhD for the research project "Landslide generated impulse waves - Prediction of near field characteristics".

Dr Heller is a graduated Civil Engineering (MSc) addressing in his final year project "Ski jump hydraulics", which was awarded the Maggia Price 2004. He further received the Harold Jan Schoemaker Award in 2013 from IAHR for the most outstanding paper published in the Journal of Hydraulic Research in 2011-2012 (Scale effects in physical hydraulic engineering models). Dr Heller was the project leader of a EU funded HYDRALAB+ project, was the PI of a NERC funded project, is an Editor of the Landslides Journal (Springer, Impact Factor 4.7), an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, runs currently the Special Issue Innovative Model Strategies in Hydraulics in the Journal Water (MDPI) and has been a technical reviewer for over 35 academic journals.

Teaching Summary

Dr Heller is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and he is/was involved in the following modules:

Current modules:

Hydraulic Design and Experiments (CIVE3063) - Convenor (SS 2018, SS 2019, SS 2020, SS 2021)

Technical Writing (2nd year Workshop F1) - Convenor (AS 2018, AS/SS 2018/19, AS/SS 2019/20, AS/SS 2020/21)

MEng Investigative Project (H24A04) - Contributor (AS/SS 2015/16, AS/SS 2016/17, AS/SS 2017/18, SS 2019, SS 2020, SS 2021)

MEng Group Design Project (GDP) (H24A03) - Contributor (AS 2015, AS 2016, AS 2017, SS 2019, SS 2020, SS 2021)

BEng Individual Investigative Project (H23A13) - Contributor (AS/SS 2015/16, AS/SS 2016/17, AS 2017, AS 2018, AS 2019, AS 2020)

MSc Civil Engineering Research Project Organisation and Planning (H24POP) - Contributor (SS 2016, SS 2017, SS 2018, SS 2019, SS 2020, SS 2021)

Engineering for People Design Challenge - Convenor (50%, SS 2017, SS 2018, SS 2019, SS 2020)

Past modules:

Hydraulics (2nd year Workshop H1) - Convenor (AS 2017, AS 2018, SS 2020)

Air Quality and Noise (H22EAQ) - Convenor (SS 2015, SS 2016, SS 2017)

Steel Design Project (Technical writing part) (H22A12) - Convenor (AS/SS 2016/17)

Hydraulics Lab Module (H22HLM) - Convenor (SS 2016)

Experiments in Fluids (H23EXF) - Contributor (SS 2015)

Fluid Mechanics I (Open Channel Flows) (SS 2014 at Imperial College London)

Weekly surgery hour:

The Civil Department operates an open door policy, which includes when I am working from home. I will be available from home at the following times, and can be contacted via either email or Microsoft Teams: Monday to Friday 8:00am-18:00pm

Research Summary

Dr Heller is mainly active in Experimental and Computational Fluid Dynamics with applications into fluid-structure interactions from small to very large scale. His research team applies a wide range… read more

Selected Publications

• CHEN, F., HELLER, V. and BRIGANTI, R., 2020. Numerical modelling of tsunamis generated by iceberg calving validated with large-scale laboratory experiments Advances in Water Resources. 142, 103647
• KESSELER, M., HELLER, V. and TURNBULL, B., 2020. Grain Reynolds number scale effects in dry granular slides Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface. 125(1), 1-19
• HELLER, V., CHEN, F., BRUEHL, M., GABL, R., CHEN, X., WOLTERS, G. and FUCHS, H., 2019. Large-scale experiments into the tsunamigenic potential of different iceberg calving mechanisms Scientific Reports. 9, 861
• RUFFINI, G., HELLER, V. and BRIGANTI, R., 2019. Numerical modelling of landslide-tsunami propagation in a wide range of idealised water body geometries Coastal Engineering. 153,

• View all publications

Dr Heller is currently the principal supervisor of 4 PhD students, the co-supervisor of 2 more PhD students and the supervisor of several undergraduate student projects. Two of his PhD students already graduated.

Current PhD students:

• Fan Chen (VIVA passed)
• Gioele Ruffini (graduating in December 2020)
• Daniele Catucci (2nd supervisor)
• Tommaso Attili
• Muhammad Awais Zaman
• David Gwillym Jenkins (external supervisor)

Graduated PhD students:

• Dr Matthew Kesseler
• Dr Hai Tan (visiting PhD student from Wuhan University)

Funding opportunities for exceptional home and international PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers are available on a competitive basis. In general, he is interested in postdoctoral researchers and PhD students in the following areas:

• Landslide-tsunamis
• Wave and tidal energy conversion
• Fluid-structure interaction
• Scale effects in fluids and granular flows

Talented, enthusiastic and motivated students with good marks are more than welcome to apply. Sometimes fully-funded studentships are available which would be advertised on Dr Heller's personal research webpage.

Current Research

Dr Heller is mainly active in Experimental and Computational Fluid Dynamics with applications into fluid-structure interactions from small to very large scale. His research team applies a wide range of measurement systems (Particle Image Velocimetry, laser distance sensors, load cells) and open source codes such as DualSPHysics, OpenFOAM, SWASH and LIGGGHTS-DEM. His current research includes the following key areas:

• Landslide-tsunamis (impulse waves)
• Scale effects in fluids and granular flows
• Fluid-structure interaction
• Machine learning (ANN) in hydraulics

Dr Heller was the project leader of the EU funded HYDRALAB+ project "Tsunamis due to ice masses: Different calving mechanisms and linkage to landslide-tsunamis" resulting in a publication in Scientific Reports, he was the PI of the NERC funded project "A hybrid investigation of geometrical effects on landslide-tsunamis: Generic hazard assessment and numerical benchmark test cases" (NE/K000578/1) and he was the lead author of the now widely applied landslide-tsunami hazard assessment method "Landslide generated impulse waves - Basics and computation" (recently published in its 2nd edition Evers et al. 2019). He is further an Editor of the Landslide Journal (Springer, Impact Factor 4.7) and an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (MDPI, Impact Factor 1.7) where he run the special issues Tsunami Science and Engineering I and Tsunami Science and Engineering II. He further run the special issue Innovative Model Strategies in Hydraulics in the Journal Water (MDPI, Impact Factor 2.5). He has been a technical reviewer for over 35 academic journals and for four research councils thus far and his article on scale effects received the 17th Harold Jan Schoemaker Award from IAHR in 2013.

Further details about Dr Heller's research are available on his personal research webpage: www.drvalentinheller.com.

Past Research

• Marine renewable energy
• Ski jump hydraulics

• CHEN, F. and HELLER, V., 2020. Large-scale iceberg-tsunami benchmark test cases
• HELLER, V., ATTILI, T., CHEN, F., GABL, R. and WOLTERS, G., 2020. Large-scale investigation into iceberg-tsunamis generated by various iceberg calving mechanisms Coastal Engineering. 103745
• KESSELER, M., HELLER, V. and TURNBULL, B., 2020. Grain Reynolds number scale effects in dry granular slides Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface. 125(1), 1-19
• CHEN, F., HELLER, V. and BRIGANTI, R., 2020. Numerical modelling of tsunamis generated by iceberg calving validated with large-scale laboratory experiments Advances in Water Resources. 142, 103647
• CHEN, F., HELLER, V. and BRIGANTI, R., 2020. Numerical modelling of tsunamis generated by iceberg calving validated with large-scale laboratory experiments: Advances in Water Resources Advances in Water Resources. 142,
• CHEN, F., HELLER, V. and BRIGANTI, R., 2020. Numerical modelling of tsunamis generated by iceberg calving validated with large-scale laboratory experiments: Advances in Water Resources Advances in Water Resources. 142,
• ATTILI, T., HELLER, V. and TRIANTAFYLLOU, T., 2020. Numerical modelling of impulse wave forces on dams (accepted) In: 1st IAHR Young Professionals Congress. 1-2 (In Press.)
• HELLER, V., 2020. The need for a paradigm shift in subaerial landslide-tsunami research In: Virtual International Conference on Coastal Engineering. 1-2
• HELLER, V., 2019. Tsunamis due to ice masses: Different calving mechanism and linkage to landslide-tsunamis
• HELLER, V., CHEN, F., BRUEHL, M., GABL, R., CHEN, X., WOLTERS, G. and FUCHS, H., 2019. Large-scale experiments into the tsunamigenic potential of different iceberg calving mechanisms Scientific Reports. 9, 861
• RUFFINI, G., HELLER, V. and BRIGANTI, R., 2019. Numerical modelling of landslide-tsunami propagation in a wide range of idealised water body geometries Coastal Engineering. 153,
• HELLER, V., ATTILI, T., CHEN, F., BRUEHL, M., GABL, R., CHEN, X., WOLTERS, G. and FUCHS, H., 2019. Large-scale iceberg-tsunami experiments In: HYDRALAB+ Final Usergroup Meeting, Bucharest, Romania. 1-10
• CHEN, F., HELLER, V. and BRIGANTI, R., 2019. Numerical simulation of tsunamis generated by iceberg calving In: 38th IAHR World Congress, Panama City, Panama. 5640-5649
• HELLER, V., ATTILI, T., CHEN, F., BRUEHL, M., GABL, R., CHEN, X., WOLTERS, G. and FUCHS, H., 2019. Large-scale experiments of tsunamis generated by iceberg calving In: 38th IAHR World Congress, Panama City, Panama. 5628-5639
• RUFFINI, G., HELLER, V. and BRIGANTI, R., 2019. Numerical investigation of landslide-tsunami propagation and transformation in a wide spectrum of water body geometries In: 38th IAHR World Congress, Panama City, Panama. 5618-5627
• HELLER, V., 2019. Tsunami Science and Engineering II: Editorial Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. 7, 319
• HELLER, V., ed., 2019. Tsunami science and engineering II MDPI.
• CHEN, F., HELLER, V. and BRIGANTI, R., 2019. A numerical model for iceberg calving generated waves In: 15th UK Young Coastal Scientists and Engineers Conference.
• EVERS, F.M., HELLER, V., FUCHS, H., HAGER, W.H. and BOES, R., 2019. Landslide generated impulse waves in reservoirs - Basics and computation: VAW Mitteilung 254 2nd edition. ETH Zurich, Zurich.
• HELLER, V., 2018. Two Replies to Discussions of „Self-similarity and Reynolds number invariance in Froude modelling“ by Ettema, R., and Sokoray-Varga, B., and Vladimir, N. Journal of Hydraulic Research. 56(2), 293;295-297
• RUFFINI, G., HELLER, V. and BRIGANTI, R., 2018. Numerical investigation of landslide-tsunami propagation in idealised water body geometries In: 14th UK Young Coastal Scientists and Engineers Conference.
• KESSELER, M., HELLER, V. and TURNBULL, B., 2018. A laboratory-numerical approach for modelling scale effects in dry granular slides Landslides. 15(11), 2145-2159
• TAN, H., RUFFINI, G., HELLER, V. and CHEN, S., 2018. A numerical landslide-tsunami hazard assessment technique applied on hypothetical scenarios at Es Vedrà, offshore Ibiza Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. 6(4), 1-22
• HELLER, V., 2017. Self-similarity and Reynolds number invariance in Froude modelling Journal of Hydraulic Research. 55(3), 293-309
• MUSTE, M.V., ABERLE, J., ADMIRAAL, D., UIJTTEWAAL, W.S.J., HELLER, V., RUETHER, N., ZARE, S.G.A., RENNIE, C., CHANG, K.A., SOKOLOFSKY, S. and GARCIA, C.M., 2017. Experiment Execution. In: Handbook of Experimental Methods
• HELLER, V., 2017. Scale effects in shallow water vortices In: 4th International Symposium of Shallow Flows. 1-3
• KESSELER, M., HELLER, V. and TURNBULL, B., 2017. Modelling dry granular slides using LIGGGHTS-DEM In: High Performance Computer Conference 2017, University of Nottingham.
• KESSELER, M., HELLER, V. and TURNBULL, B., 2017. A laboratory-numerical approach for quantifying scale effects in dry granular slides In: Colloquium 588, Coupling Mechanisms and Multi-scaling in Granular-Fluid Flows.
• HELLER, V., BRUGGEMANN, M., SPINNEKEN, J. and ROGERS, B., 2016. Composite modelling of subaerial landslide-tsunamis in different water body geometries and novel insight into slide and wave kinematics Coastal Engineering. 109(3), 20-41
• HELLER, V., ed., 2016. Tsunami Science and Engineering: Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Journal of Marine Science and Engineering MDPI, Basel.
• HELLER, V., 2015. Composite modelling of the effect of the water body geometry on landslide-tsunamis In: 36th IAHR Congress, The Hague, IAHR, Madrid.
• HELLER, V. and ROGERS, B., 2015. Subaerial landslide-tsunami generation with a rigid slide in a channel (2D) and basin (3D). SPH benchmark test case 11. Available at: <https://wiki.manchester.ac.uk/spheric/index.php/Test11>
• HELLER, V. and SPINNEKEN, J., 2015. On the effect of the water body geometry on landslide-tsunamis: Physical insight from laboratory tests and 2D to 3D wave parameter transformation: Coastal Engineering Coastal Engineering. 104, 113-134
• HELLER, V. and HAGER, W.H., 2014. A universal parameter to predict landslide-tsunamis? Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. 2(2), 400-412
• HELLER, V. and SPINNEKEN, J., 2013. Improved landslide-tsunami prediction: Effects of block model parameters and slide model JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS. 118(3), 1489-1507
• CHAPLIN, J.R., HELLER, V., FARLEY, F.J.M., HEARN, G.E. and RAINEY, R.C.T., 2012. Laboratory testing the Anaconda PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY A-MATHEMATICAL PHYSICAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES. 370(1959), 403-424
• HELLER, V., MOALEMI, M., KINNEAR, R.D. and ADAMS, R.A., 2012. Geometrical Effects on Landslide-Generated Tsunamis JOURNAL OF WATERWAY PORT COASTAL AND OCEAN ENGINEERING-ASCE. 138(4), 286-298
• WATT, S.F.L., TALLING, P.J., VARDY, M.E., HELLER, V., HUEHNERBACH, V., URLAUB, M., SARKAR, S., MASSON, D.G., HENSTOCK, T.J., MINSHULL, T.A., PAULATTO, M., LE FRIANT, A., LEBAS, E., BERNDT, C., CRUTCHLEY, G.J., KARSTENS, J., STINTON, A.J. and MAENO, F., 2012. Combinations of volcanic-flank and seafloor-sediment failure offshore Montserrat, and their implications for tsunami generation EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS. 319, 228-240
• SPINNEKEN, J., HELLER, V., KRAMER, S.C., PIGGOTT, M.D. and VIRÉ, A., 2012. Assessment of an advanced finite element tool for the simulation of fully-nonlinear gravity water waves In: 22nd International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference ISOPE, Rhodes, Greece..
• HELLER, V. and SPINNEKEN, J., 2012. Optimising landslide-tsunami prediction based on physical model tests In: 2nd European conference of IAHR, Munich, IAHR, Madrid. Paper B22
• HELLER, V., 2012. Development of wave devices from initial conception to commercial demonstration. In: Comprehensive Renewable Energy 8. Elsevier. 79-110
• HELLER, V., 2012. Dr Valentin Heller - Personal research website Available at: <www.drvalentinheller.com>
• HELLER, V., 2012. Three Replies to Discussions of „Scale effects in physical hydraulic engineering models“ by Pfister, M., and Chanson, H.; Tafarojnoruz, A., and Gaudio, G.; Echávez, R. Journal of Hydraulic Research. 50(2), 246; 248; 249-250
• HELLER, V., 2011. Scale effects in physical hydraulic engineering models JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC RESEARCH. 49(3), 293-306
• HELLER, V. and HAGER, W. H., 2011. Wave types of landslide generated impulse waves OCEAN ENGINEERING. 38(4), 630-640
• HELLER, V. and CHAPLIN, J.R., 2011. Dynamic mechanical analysis of rubber used in Anaconda testing In: 9th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Southampton, UK. Paper 373
• HELLER, V. and KINNEAR, R. D., 2010. Discussion of "Experimental investigation of impact generated tsunami; related to a potential rock slide, Western Norway" by G. Saelevik, A. Jensen, G. Pedersen [Coastal Eng. 56 (2009) 897-906] COASTAL ENGINEERING. 57(8), 773-777
• FUCHS, H., HELLER, V. and HAGER, W.H., 2010. Impulse wave run-over: experimental benchmark study for numerical modelling EXPERIMENTS IN FLUIDS. 49(5), 985-1004
• HELLER, V. and HAGER, W.H., 2010. Impulse Product Parameter in Landslide Generated Impulse Waves JOURNAL OF WATERWAY PORT COASTAL AND OCEAN ENGINEERING-ASCE. 136(3), 145-155
• MYERS, L.E., BAHAJ, A.S., HELLER, V., RETZLER, C., DHEDIN, J.-F., RICCI, P., DUPERRAY, O. and MENDIA, J.L., 2010. Equitable testing and evaluation of marine energy extraction devices in terms of performance, cost and environmental impact (EquiMar): Site matching and interaction effects D5.4
• MCCOMBES, T., JOHNSTONE, C., HOLMES, B., MYERS, L.E., BAHAJ, A.S., HELLER, V., KOFOED, J.P., FINN, J. and BITTENCOURT, C., 2010. Equitable testing and evaluation of marine energy extraction devices in terms of performance, cost and environmental impact (EquiMar): Assessment of current practice for tank testing of small marine energy devices. D3.3
• HELLER, V., CHAPLIN, J.R., FARLEY, F.J.M., HANN, M.R. and HEARN, G.E., 2010. Physical model tests of the wave energy converter Anaconda In: 1st European conference of IAHR, Edinburgh. Paper MREc: 1-6
• CHAPLIN, J.R., FARLEY, F.J.M., HEARN, G.E., HELLER, V. and MENDES, A., 2010. Hydrodynamic performance of the Anaconda wavepower device In: Proceeding of the HYDRALAB III joint transnational access user meeting, Hanover, Germany. 73-76
• HELLER, V., 2010. Leading wave power devices
• HELLER, V. and PFISTER, M., 2009. Discussion of "Computing the Trajectory of Free Jets" by Tony L. Wahl, Kathleen H. Frizell, and Elisabeth A. Cohen JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING-ASCE. 135(7), 622-623
• HELLER, V., 2009. Beschreibung turbulenter Strömungen (Description of turbulent flows) Wasser Energie Luft. 101(4), 328-336
• HELLER, V., HAGER, W.H. and MINOR, H.-E., 2009. Landslide generated impulse waves in reservoirs - Basics and computation VAW, ETH Zurich.
• HELLER, V., 2009. Subaerial landslide generated impulse waves in a wave channel. SPH benchmark test case 7. SPH European Research Interest Community SPHERIC website. Available at: <https://wiki.manchester.ac.uk/spheric/index.php/Test7>
• HELLER, V., 2009. Landslide generated impulse waves - Experimental results In: 31st International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Hamburg, Germany. 2. 1313-1325
• HELLER, V., HAGER, W.H. and MINOR, H.-E., 2008. Scale effects in subaerial landslide generated impulse waves EXPERIMENTS IN FLUIDS. 44(5), 691-703
• STEINER, R., HELLER, V., HAGER, W.H. and MINOR, H.-E., 2008. Deflector ski jump hydraulics JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING-ASCE. 134(5), 562-571
• HELLER, V., HAGER, W.H. and MINOR, H.-E., 2008. Rutscherzeugte Impulswellen in Stauseen - Grundlagen und Berechnung (Landslide generated impulse waves - Basics and computation) VAW, ETH Zurich.
• HELLER, V. and STEINER, R., 2008. Skisprung - Eine alternative Deflektorgeometrie (Ski jumps - An alternative deflector geometry) In: Proc. Internationales Symposium Neue Anforderungen an den Wasserbau. VAW Mitteilung 207. 83-95
• HELLER, V., 2007. Landslide generated impulse waves - Prediction of near field characteristics: Ph.D. Thesis 17531 ETH Zurich.
• HELLER, V., 2007. Massstabseffekte im hydraulischen Modell (Scale effects in hydraulic modelling) Wasser Energie Luft. 99(4), 153-159
• HELLER, V., HAGER, W.H. and MINOR, H.-E., 2007. Hydraulics of ski jumps In: Proc. 32nd IAHR Congress, Venice, Italy. 1-10
• HELLER, V., HAGER, W.H. and MINOR, H.-E., 2006. Rutscherzeugte Impulswellen in Stauhaltungen (Landslide generated impulse waves in reservoirs) In: Proc. Wasserbausymposium Stauhaltungen und Speicher - Von der Tradition zur Moderne, Graz, Austria. 1. 67-81
• HELLER, V., 2006. Strahlwurfweite von Skisprüngen (Jet through distance of ski jumps) In: Proc. 8. JuWi-Treffen, Universität Karlsruhe, Germany. 7-12
• HELLER, V., HAGER, W.H. and MINOR, H.-E., 2006. Two Replies to Discussions of „Ski jump hydraulics“ by Khatsuria, R.M., and Novak, P. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering. 132(10), 1117
• HELLER, V., HAGER, W.H. and MINOR, H.-E., 2005. Ski jump hydraulics JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING-ASCE. 131(5), 347-355
• HELLER, V., UNGER, J. and HAGER, W.H., 2005. Tsunami run-up - A hydraulic perspective JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING-ASCE. 131(9), 743-747
• HAGER, W.H. and HELLER, V., 2005. Impulswellen im Labor und in der Natur (Impulse waves in the laboratory and in nature) In: VAW 75 years. 190. 213-224
• HELLER, V., 2005. Impulswellen (Impulse waves) In: 7. JuWi-Treffen, Graz, Austria. 43. 55-60
• HELLER, V., HAGER, W.H. and MINOR, H.-E., 2004. Skisprung – Allgemeine Bemessungsansätze (Ski jumps - General design criteria) Wasser Energie Luft. 96(7/8), 183-187